Sun Wu Kong

Meaning: Wu - Awareness

               Kong - Vacuity

Origin: Pu Ti Zu Shi, the Taoist immortal who taught him the way of immortality and magic, gave Wu Kong this name when he became his disciple. There is a little story behind the surname 'Sun'. In chinese, 'hu sun' is a word for monkey. 'Hu' is made up of the characters 'gu', meaning 'old' and 'yue', meaning 'moon', and with the symbol (we call it bu shou but there's no English equivalent) used in animal names at the left. Old and moon carries negative connotations (moon symbolises yin, negativity) so Pu Ti Zu Shi choose 'sun' as the monkey's surname. If you take away the animal symbol, you get the character 'sun', that is, a different 'sun' meaning 'grandchildren'. It is made up of the characters 'zi', meaning 'child' or 'children' and 'xiao', meaning 'little' or 'small'. Better than old moon, at least. So Pu Ti Zu Shi gave Wu Kong the surname Sun. And he's carried it proudly ever since. ^_^

Variations: Sun Wukong, Sun-Wukong, Sun-Wu-K'ung, Sun-Wu-Kong

English name(s): Monkey

Japanese pronunciation:

Sun Wu Kong - Son Goku

Roughly 850 at the time of the pilgrimage.

- Demonic Immortal (Yao Xian).

- Stone Monkey (Shi Hou).

Original Location

Water Curtain Cave (Shui Lian Dong), Mountain of Flower and Fruit (Hua Guo Shan).

Country: Aolai Kingdom*

Continent: Dong Sheng Shen Zhou (the eastern continent)

* I strongly suspect that this refers to Japan, as it is situated on the far reaches of the Eastern Sea. Anyway, it doesn't matter if geographically, Wu Kong's not from China, because his personality is symbolic of the Chinese as a people. Helping people in need, putting 'face' and honour high on his priority list, and a certain tendency to shy away from reality are just a few of the identifying traits.

Titles/Other Names

(1) Handsome Monkey King (Mei Hou Wang)

His title when he became king of the monkeys.

(2) Bi Ma Wen

His title as head of the Heavenly Stables when he first went to Heaven. But when he found out that it had no rank whatsoever, he left the post in anger. From then on, he always hated it when anyone called him by that name.

(3) Great Sage Equal of Heaven (Qi Tian Da Sheng)

When he returned to Flower Fruit Mountain after leaving his post as Bi Ma Wen, two single-horned demon kings came to him and suggested that he take the title of Great Sage Equal of Heaven. Wu Kong was very receptive of this idea and called himself by that title from then on. Afterwards, when he defeated all the Heavenly generals sent to capture him, the Jade Emperor (ruler of Heaven) gave him the post of Great Sage Equal of Heaven to placate. It was, of course, an empty post with no work for Wu Kong to do.

Japanese pronunciation: Seiten Taisei

(4) Sun Xing Zhe

Tang San Zang gave Wu Kong the name of Xing Zhe (traveling monk) when he became his disciple. The author uses this form of address for him throughout the pilgrimage (mostly he just uses 'Xing Zhe').

(5) Hun Yuan Yi Qi Shang Fang Tai Yi San Xian (or simply Tai Yi San Xian)

Wu Kong's rank as an immortal. Wu Cheng En didn't elaborate, but from what I gather, it's neither very high nor very low.

(6) Buddha of Victorious Battles (Dou Zhan Sheng Fo)

This was his name when he finally attained Buddhahood or zheng guo . Really suits him, don't you think? ^_^

(7) Sun Hou Zi

'Hou zi' is chinese for 'monkey'. So, literally, 'Monkey Sun'. A kind of informal form of address with little or no respect. Sometimes the author refers to him with this form of address.

Variations: Sun-Hou-Tze

Magic Golden-Clasped Rod (Ru Yi Jin Gu Bang)

Origin: Wu Kong got it from the Dragon King of the Eastern Sea.

Weight: 13500 catties, about 8100 kg.

Size: Unlimited. It can grow as tall as the sky or shrink to the size of a needle at will. Wu Kong likes to keep it in his ear when he's not using it. Occasionally, he uses it to sew his clothes.

Thus: Nyoikinkoubou

Magical Powers

(1) 72 Transformation (72 Bian)

Allows him to transform himself into anything and anyone. Wu Kong uses it a lot, in all imaginable ways!

Variation 1

He can change all of his hairs into any object, person or animal. After use, he can change them back  to hairs.

Variation 2: Body Outside of Body Spell (Shen Wai Shen Fa)  

He can amass an army in a few seconds by changing tufts of his hair into monkeys who are capable of fighting.

Variation 3

Allows him to transform one object into another object by chanting a spell and spitting blood on the object. In the case of changing an object into people, he completes the illusion by giving the fakes very simple abilities of speech and movement.

Variation 4

He can multiply his head and hands so that he has three heads and six arms. He also multiplies his magic rod so that he can use three rods at the same time. This is very useful in fighting off crowds of enemies.

Variation 5

He can transform a hair into a fake Wu Kong, freeing his true self to go elsewhere.

Variation 6

He can change his single magic rod into thousands of them which can be used for attacking multiple enemies.

(2) Somersault Cloud (Jin Dou Yun)

Allows him to fly over a distance of 108000 li in one somersault.

Note: Thanks to a reader (J.N.) who commented, we can now ascertain that one li roughly equals 0.5 km.

Japanese pronounciation:

Jin Dou Yun - Kintouun

Therefore, 108000 li roughly equals 54000km. ^o^ Thanks, J.N.!

(3) Body Freezing Spell

I can't believe I forgot this. =_= This is one of Wu Kong's most important powers, the body freezing spell. With a single syllable and a point of his finger, he can magically freeze anyone into immobility. I've never seen him use this on his enemies though, you know, the big bad demon bosses and all that, but he does use it frequently on the minor demons, so I surmise that this spell is only effective on people with weak magical powers.

(4) Water Avoidance Charm (Bi Shui Jue)

Allows him to survive in deep waters. A major drawback is that he can't fight while using this charm.

(5) Fire Avoidance Charm (Bi Huo Jue)

Allows him to go through fire unharmed. This charm doesn't have the Water Avoidance Charm's drawback.

He can induce very strong winds and windstorms.

(7) Lock-Breaking Spell (Jie Suo Fa)

With a point from his finger or magic rod, all locks will open automatically.

(8) Summoning

He can summon the local gods of any place he goes, that is the Earth Gods, Mountain Gods, River Gods, and the like.

(9) Protective Circle

He can build a protective, albeit invisible wall by drawing a circle on the ground with his magic rod. Anyone staying inside the circle will be safe from harm as long as they don't go out. The one time he used it, San Zang was stupid enough to listen to Ba Jie and ignore Wu Kong's instructions and ended up being captured by a demon.

(1) Fiery Golden Eyes (Huo Yan Jin Jing)

When he was burnt in Lao Zi's furnace for 49 days, he sat in a place where there was only smoke, but no fire. Thus he managed to survive the burning, but his eyes were smoked into Fiery Golden Eyes. This enables him to see as far as a thousand li in the day and five, six hundred li at night. Furthermore, he can see through any disguise, illusion, or transformation.

(2) Fighting

He possesses supernatural strength, so much that he feels that only a 8100kg metal rod is suitable for him. This strength and his natural agility gives him an edge in fights. He is efficient in unarmed combat and using various kinds of weapons, though his favored weapon is his magic rod.

(3) Immortality and Invincibility

Wu Kong is immortal. Not only that, his 72 Transformations gives him 72 extra lives. Because he stole and ate peaches and golden pills of immortality, his body can be invulnerable to all attacks. He likes to intimidate others with this ability. He'll just bare his neck and dare you to attack him. And if you do, it's just like attacking a mountain of rock - the weapon just bounces off. He can cut open his stomach, take out his intestines, and put them back again. If his head is cut off, he can reattach it or just grow it back again, without even the hint of a scar. He can bathe in a pot of boiling oil as if it was just a hot spring. ^_^ How cool is that?

(4) Knowledge and Intelligence

From the looks of it, Wu Kong studied very hard at school, uh, I mean at Pu Ti Zu Shi's cave. He knows a lot about anything related to magic - like the energy change in moon phases, types of demon influence, Yin and Yang, the five elements (wu xing), the eight symbols (ba gua), etc. etc. He is also a very clever guy - always thinking up different ways to trick and defeat other demons.

Don't forget that Wu Kong was once the Bi Ma Wen. The glorified stable boy of Heaven. >D He excels at taking care of horses and most horses obey him instinctively.

(6) Healing and Medicine

Wu Kong is a skilled doctor as he studied traditional medicine with his first master. Regretfully, he only utilizes this ability on one occasion to diagnose and cure an emperor's sickness.

History WARNING!! MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST SECTION OF XIYOUJI!!

He was born from a rock on the summit of Flower Fruit Mountain of the Eastern Continent and lived with the monkeys there. One day, they decided to follow a stream to its source - a waterfall. The monkeys decided that whoever was brave enough to jump through the waterfall would become their king. The stone monkey went through the waterfall unscathed and discovered a huge cave behind the waterfall. 'Water Curtain Cave' (there were a few other words but all you need to know are these three) was inscribed in stone there. Thus, from then onwards, the monkeys made their home in the Water Curtain Cave, and made the stone monkey their king with the title of 'Handsome Monkey King'.

Three hundred years passed in happiness but one day, the stone monkey left on a raft to search for a way to immortality. He floated across the sea and came to the Southern Continent, where he learnt to speak and walk like a human. Eight or nine years passed before he crossed another ocean to come to the Western Continent, where he eventually found an immortal and learnt the way of immortality and some magical powers ( fa li ). After about twelve years of training, he returned to Flower Fruit Mountain.

After that, he amassed a massive army of 47000 monkeys. All the other demons who were living on Flower Fruit Mountain came to pay homage to him. Then he managed to cause trouble in Hell and for the Dragon Kings who lodged complaints against him to Heaven. Tai Bai Jin Xing, God of Venus asked the Jade Emperor to pardon Wu Kong and give him a post in Heaven, which was the post of Bi Ma Wen. Wu Kong left the post in anger when he found out it had no rank. The Jade Emperor ordered the Heavenly troops to capture Wu Kong. Wu Kong beat them all, naturally. Venus asked the Jade Emperor to pardon him again, and let him have the post of Great Sage Equal of Heaven.

He was then put in charge of the peach orchard, for fear that he would cause trouble if he had nothing to do. Wu Kong couldn't resist the temptation and ate all the ripe, big  peaches of immortality. This was the first offence in a string of crimes. Next, when he found out that he wasn't invited to the Peach Banquet held by the Empress, he went to it before anyone arrived and finished off all the food and wine. Then, he reached the Tai Shang Lao Jun/Lao Zi's home in a drunken stupor and ate his precious golden pills of immortality. Once he did this, he knew that he was in big trouble and went back to Flower Fruit Mountain immediately.

When the Jade Emperor found out, he ordered his Heavenly Troops to wage war on Flower Fruit Mountain. Eventually he was captured and brought back to Heaven for punishment.

It was discovered soon enough that no weapon could harm him so Tai Shang Lao Jun burnt him in his furnace for 49 days. Wu Kong survived and when he escaped, he wrecked havoc in Heaven, fighting off all the Heavenly soldiers by himself. But then Lord Buddha came and crushed him underneath his palm, which turned into the Mountain of Five Elements (Wu Xing Shan). Wu Kong was imprisoned underneath the mountain for 500 years before Tang San Zang came and let him out. He became Tang San Zang's first disciple.

Personality

Basically, he's an evil demon with a bad ass attitude who goes around killing off humans for no reason at all. (^_^;) Just kidding!

He's a very good impromptu poet... But then, virtually all the characters in Xiyouji, from goddess to immortal, from demon to human, from Taoists to Buddhists, everyone bursts into poems at whim. How would I love to do that ... (sighs dreamily) But then, it may be because Wu Cheng En is obsessed with poems. He likes to indulge himself and characters with poetry. In one instance, there was a woodcutter and a fisherman competing with impromptu poems about how beautiful the woods or the rivers were. It lasted three pages long and the only point was that one of them gave a passing water guardian ( ye cha) one single bit of information. (sigh) Then there was this whole chapter dedicated to San Zhang and demons making up poems on the spot... But I digress.

Anyway, Wu Kong likes to make poems especially when he sees beautiful scenery. And I tell you he absolutely loves scenic views. Once he and Ba Jie were sneaking into a royal garden and he started squealing and jumping around when he saw the oh-so-pretty trees and flowers. And yes, he made up a poem about it on the spot. (shakes head) Talk about obsessed. (-_-) 

His favorite food is peaches. His favorite colour is pink... just kidding! His favorite person - Tang San Zang? Perhaps. He loves to tease and play tricks on Ba Jie, who hates him because of it.

Wu Kong’s most prominent personality trait is bravery and fearlessness. There are conflicting views on that, though. Some say he is defiant and bold just because he is powerful, and he knows that no one can defeat him. Power abuse, anyone? Well, there is a little truth in this. Proof? Once when he lost his magic rod, he became much more polite to the Jade Emperor when asking for assistance. He even made a small bow, which is extremely respectful by Wu Kong’s standards! But then it's not entirely true either. When he was still practically a child, he jumped through a huge, thundering waterfall without a second thought - and he was powerless to defend himself at the time. Does this not show pure courage? And he went across oceans and continents alone to find an immortal who could teach him. That takes a lot of courage, as well as determination and willpower. But after five hundred years and he was on the pilgrimage, there was one occasion when he complained to the Goddess of Mercy that it was too dangerous, there were demons by the millions and what if he died before attaining zheng guo (Buddha status)? He couldn't do it. The Goddess had to give him three life-saving hairs that would change into objects which could help him out of a life and death situation. Only then was he satisfied. Does that mean that after the years he had become cowardly? Perhaps not. As a matter of fact, he really did nearly die during the course of the journey, so his fears were not completely unfounded. Wu Kong is afraid of nothing except death, as can be proved by his search for immortality. Thus, we can justify and forgive this ‘act of cowardice’, which was possibly just an ‘act of prudence’.    

Another interesting aspect of his personality is the development of his relationship with Tang San Zang. At first, he was extremely grateful to San Zang because he saved him from the Mountain of Five Elements and became his disciple obligingly. But when Wu Kong killed six bandits who meant to kill them and take their belongings, San Zang became very angry and scolded him. Wu Kong gets infuriated when people scold him so he took off, leaving San Zang alone in the wilderness. The Goddess of Mercy gave San Zang a golden band and taught him the Band-Tightening Spell, which would make the golden band shrink. When Wu Kong came back finally, he put on the band, not knowing what it was. San Zang chanted the Band-Tightening Spell, which made the band tighten on his head, causing him terrible pain. San Zang asked him if he would be obedient from then on and Wu Kong replied yes. But actually he was still enraged and tried to kill San Zang with his magic rod, only stopping when San Zang chanted the spell again. Thus, it can be said that Wu Kong was tortured into obedience to San Zang. Um... (sweat) 'Tortured' seems too strong a word, maybe 'forced' would be better.

But, strangely, it all changed during the pilgrimage. Wu Kong seemed to grow an affection for the monk. San Zang doesn’t deserve this. He is stubborn and cowardly. He never listens to Wu Kong when he warns that there are demons nearby and never takes his advice either. And he is weak and indecisive, always wavering under persuasion. Maybe Wu Kong only wanted to protect San Zang because by doing his he could become a Buddha. But still, he cried a lot of times over his master. The first time was when San Zang made him leave, thinking that he had killed three innocent humans when in fact they were the same demon in disguise. San Zang, being the ignorant human he was, didn't know the difference. Wu Kong paid his last respects to his master and left. It was only when he reached the Eastern Sea that he let himself cry. Then there was the time when San Zang was abducted by yet another demon, who nearly killed Wu Kong with his fire attack. The first word Wu Kong uttered upon waking up was 'Master!'. Then he wept and composed a poem on the spot describing his grief about his master and his helplessness. He does that quite a few times during the course of their journey - the poem composing as well as the crying.

Then again, he can be rather childish at times, crying over silly things. Once, he disguised himself as a small demon and was just outside the cave of the demon he wanted to trick when he realized that he would have to kou tou to the demon to perfect his disguise. A kou tou is when you get down on your knees and bow your head to the floor. It is the most honoring gesture in Chinese customs. Now, Wu Kong never kou tou s to anybody. The only people he ever kou tou ed to were his first master who taught him magic and immortality, his current master, San Zang, and the Goddess of Mercy. He doesn't even kou tou to the Jade Emperor. It was quite humiliating for him to kou tou to a mere demon. So what do you think he did? Yup, he cried. Ah, what a sense of honour!

But perhaps I'm leading you to believe that he's a crybaby. This is definitely untrue. Wu Kong just reacts more emotionally and dramatically to some things. Actually, he has a ferocious temper. Especially when his enemies insult him, or when his master and brothers get abducted. Incidentally, when he first met Pu Ti Zu Shi, he said that if people hit or scolded him, he didn't react at all. Was it just talk, or had his personality changed yet again because he had become more powerful? Did his powers inflate his ego? Did he become more sensitive to insults and scoldings because they injure his ego? Did he acquire a sense of dignity, honour, pride, or perhaps arrogance, so that he couldn't bear any slights to his person? Whatever it is, Wu Kong is quick to fly into a temper, which gets him into trouble countless of times.

Despite that, Wu Kong has many positive aspects to his personality. For one, Wu Kong is a confident, optimistic person. He doesn't just go down when he faces hardships, he devises ways to overcome them, putting a smile on his face even when he has been defeated numerous times. Wu Kong is also a very intelligent immortal. He puts emphasis on knowing his enemies and using different strategies to defeat them. And Wu Kong is a master at that - finding out his opponent's weakness and using it. Anyway, he can ask for reinforcements virtually everywhere. His outgoing, friendly personality and his notorious reputation makes sure of that! ^_^ Wu Kong shows no mercy when it comes to evil - he eliminates all the demons the pilgrims meet on their journey. He has a strong sense of justice and during the journey, he helps out humans who face problems caused by demons, reuniting families and saving entire countries. But best of all, he has a wicked sense of humour . Poking fun at Ba Jie is just part of it. ^_^ You'll see.

In short, Sun Wu Kong symbolises hope, justice, and the fighting spirit that we all possess. He made Journey to the West the literary success it is now.

the journey to the west characters

If you have information or comments about Sun Wu Kong, please tell me . Or alternatively, go to the forum to talk about him.

back to character profiles

back to main page

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Highlight Links

the journey to the west characters

Follow TV Tropes

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/JourneyToTheWest

Characters / Journey to the West

Edit locked.

  • Journey To The West - Pilgrims
  • Journey To The West - Gods And Immortals
  • Journey To The West - Demons
  • Journey To The West - Mortals
  • Journey to the Dream Land
  • CharacterSheets/Literature - J to M

Important Links

  • Action Adventure
  • Commercials
  • Crime & Punishment
  • Professional Wrestling
  • Speculative Fiction
  • Sports Story
  • Animation (Western)
  • Music And Sound Effects
  • Print Media
  • Sequential Art
  • Tabletop Games
  • Applied Phlebotinum
  • Characterization
  • Characters As Device
  • Narrative Devices
  • British Telly
  • The Contributors
  • Creator Speak
  • Derivative Works
  • Laws And Formulas
  • Show Business
  • Split Personality
  • Truth And Lies
  • Truth In Television
  • Fate And Prophecy
  • Edit Reasons
  • Isolated Pages
  • Images List
  • Recent Videos
  • Crowner Activity
  • Un-typed Pages
  • Recent Page Type Changes
  • Trope Entry
  • Character Sheet
  • Playing With
  • Creating New Redirects
  • Cross Wicking
  • Tips for Editing
  • Text Formatting Rules
  • Handling Spoilers
  • Administrivia
  • Trope Repair Shop
  • Image Pickin'

Advertisement:

the journey to the west characters

logo

Journey to the West: Volume I

85 pages • 2 hours read

The Journey to the West: Volume I

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-25

Character Analysis

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Discussion Questions

Summary and Study Guide

The Journey to the West: Volume I (1983) , translated and edited by Anthony C. Yu, contains the first 25 chapters of a 100-chapter hero’s epic , an allegory designed to impart knowledge on how to behave and what values to extol. Originally published in the late 16th century during the late Ming Dynasty, this epic is “loosely based on the famous pilgrimage of Xuanzang…the monk who went from China to India in quest of Buddhist scriptures” (1). Xuanzang lived from approximately 596 to the year 664. This journey was part of a movement of pilgrimages to the west for universal truth imparted by Buddha. There are two original components to the text, one attributed to the author Yang Zhihe, the other attributed to the compiler Zhu Dingchen.  

For an abridged translation of Wu Cheng'en's full work, please refer to the study guide for Monkey: A Folk Novel of China (1942), translated by Arthur Waley.

Get access to this full Study Guide and much more!

  • 7,100+ In-Depth Study Guides
  • 5,050+ Quick-Read Plot Summaries
  • Downloadable PDFs

Plot Summary

Shortly after the formation of the universe, a monkey is born from an immortal stone, possessing the traits of both the Yin and Yang. He becomes a king of other monkeys , and then trains in the Way, a Daoist discipline which earns him the ability to travel great distances with ease and to transform himself. Unfortunately, he angers his master and is cast out, at which point his selfishness and greed take hold of him. He develops an inferiority complex that leads to his offending Heaven. To get him under control, the ruler of Heaven—the Jade Emperor—offers him a fake title and gifts. When the monkey offends Heaven again, he flees to Earth, where a Heavenly army pursues him. 

The SuperSummary difference

  • 8x more resources than SparkNotes and CliffsNotes combined
  • Study Guides you won ' t find anywhere else
  • 100+ new titles every month

Wukong defies this army, until the Emperor’s nephew Erlang and the highest sage, Laozi, work together to trap him. The Jade Emperor sentences Wukong to death. Wukong is captured by the Buddha, Tathāgata , and imprisoned by five mountains on the promise that he can one day redeem himself. Guanyin and Hui’an leave to find the pilgrim that Tathāgata calls for to quest for knowledge, and Guanyin promises three monsters—and Wukong—opportunities for redemption. For Wukong, he will have to serve the pilgrim. The pilgrim, Xuanzang, grows up an orphan named and raised by a monk. He learns the Way, and when he’s 18, he finds out who his parents were and how they were wronged by bandits. He avenges his parents, and after his mother’s suicide, Xuanzang returns to the monastic lifestyle.

Emperor Tang Taizong is supposed to save the Dragon King from execution after the Dragon King ruins a fortune teller, but he fails because the executioner and judge, Wei, kills the Dragon King while dreaming. Taizong dies of sadness, and in the Underworld, promises to send food and hold a mass for the trapped souls so they can be reborn—he’s then sent back to the world of the living because he still has another 20 years to live. Taizong makes good on his promises.

At a mass sanctioned by Taizong and led by Xuanzang, Guanyin shows up and announces the quest to the west; Xuanzang volunteers. Xuanzang, also called Tripitaka, is helped along his journey and in return, saves a man’s father’s spirit. The man then agrees to guide him; when they are on a mountain, they hear Wukong cry out for his master. Tripitaka frees Wukong; they’re attacked, and Wukong kills the bandits attacking them. Tripitaka chides him, and Wukong flees. Guanyin helps Tripitaka control Wukong, who now goes by Pilgrim. Later, they gain control of the dragon that Guanyin promised redemption to when she turns it into a horse. Along their journey, Pilgrim is becoming a better soul, but he still has lessons to learn, such as how to curb his pride and vanity—a lesson he must learn when the abbot at the monastery of Guanyin tries to steal Tripitaka’s holy cassock because Pilgrim wanted to show it off.

Pilgrim and Guanyin work together to subdue a bear monster and regain the heavenly cassock for Tripitaka; Guanyin reminds Pilgrim to be good and not lazy. Despite this, Pilgrim continues to cause trouble for the remainder of Volume I of The Journey to the West , though as the entire epic contains 100 chapters, and Volume I is only the first 25, the monkey still has time to achieve redemption and enlightenment.

blurred text

Don't Miss Out!

Access Study Guide Now

Ready to dive in?

Get unlimited access to SuperSummary for only $ 0.70 /week

Related Titles

By these authors

Monkey: A Folk Novel of China

Wu Cheng'en, Transl. Arthur Waley

Featured Collections

Chinese studies.

View Collection

Good & Evil

Order & chaos, pride & shame.

That's Mandarin Chinese Language School

Journey to the West: Introduction

by That's Mandarin | Oct 11, 2022 | Guest Blogs & Media

The Journey to the West | That's Mandarin Guest Post

To spark your interest, our guest author Jeff Pepper from Imagin8 Press has shared a brief introduction of the book.

TIP: Scroll the the bottom of the article to discover links to a version of the book written for English-speaking students of Chinese!

Q: What is Journey to the West about?

Journey to the West (西游记, Xīyóu Jì), is a Chinese novel written in the 16th century by Wu Cheng’en (吴承恩, Wú Chéng’ēn).

It is probably the most famous and best-loved novel in China and is considered one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. Its place in Chinese literature is roughly comparable to Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey in Western literature. Wikipedia sums up the book’s role perfectly, saying, “Enduringly popular, the tale is at once a comic adventure story, a humorous satire of Chinese bureaucracy, a spring of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeys towards enlightenment by the power and virtue of cooperation.”

Q: Is Journey to the West based on a real story?

The novel’s storyline is loosely based on an actual journey by a Buddhist monk also called Xuanzang who traveled from the city of Chang’an (today’s Xi’an) westward to India in 629 A.D. and returned 17 years later with priceless knowledge and texts of Buddhism.

Q: In short, what is Journey to the West about?

A long time ago, in a magical version of ancient China, the great Tang Empire is ruled by an emperor named Taizong. Due to a mixup involving the wrongful execution of a dragon king, Taizong falls ill, dies, and is dragged down to the underworld. There he comes face to face with the Ten Kings of the Underworld, survives a harrowing journey through hell, and finally escapes with the help of a deceased courtier.

When Taizong returns to the human world he is a changed man. He decides to send a monk to the Western Heaven (that is, India), to visit the Buddha, obtain holy scriptures, and bring them back to the people of the Tang Empire. This task is nearly impossible, requiring the crossing of thousands of miles of wild and dangerous territory. With guidance from the bodhisattva Guanyin, the emperor selects a young monk named Xuanzang.

Xuanzang is a brilliant young man but has a complicated history. In an earlier lifetime centuries before, he was a student of the Buddha but was careless in his studies. Expelled from the Buddha’s temple, he spent the next ten lifetimes meditating and acquiring merit. As an infant in his current lifetime he is nearly killed by bandits, placed in a floating basket by his widowed mother and sent downriver, rescued by a monk, and raised in a monastery. At age eighteen he learns his true history, and goes off to avenge his father’s death.

Later he is chosen by Taizong to undertake the epic journey to the west. Now called Tangseng (“monk from Tang”), he faces a near-impossible task: he must cross hundreds of mountains and thousands of rivers, and survive encounters with a horrifying series of bandits, monsters, demons, ghosts, evil kings, scheming monks, false Buddhas, and much more.

Sun Wukong from The Journey to the West | That's Mandarin Guest Post

Q: How about the Monkey King and other famous characters?

Tangseng could never survive the journey on his own. Fortunately he acquires three powerful but deeply flawed disciples.

First is the monkey king Sun Wukong (孙悟空, S ūn W ù kōng , his name means “ape awakened to the void”), who he frees from a 500-year imprisonment under a mountain in punishment for creating havoc in heaven.

Second is Zhu Bajie (猪八戒, Zhū Bājiè, “pig of the eight prohibitions”), a gluttonous pig-man who is constantly fighting, and often succumbing to, his desires for food, sex and comfort.

And third is Sha Wujing (沙悟净, Shā Wùjìng, “sand seeking purity”), a reformed man-eating river demon.

All three have been converted to Buddhism by the monk, but they often slip back into their bad habits and cause Tangseng a great deal of trouble. Fortunately they all have great magical powers which come in handy for battling demons and monsters, and saving Tangseng from all sorts of trouble.

The story of this journey is described in this epic novel.

The Journey to the West | That's Mandarin Guest Post

Q: How long is the original book?

The original Journey to the West is a very long book. It contains 100 chapters and is 588,000 Chinese characters long. It uses a very large vocabulary of 4,500 different words, over 90% of which are not included in HSK Levels 1-6, making it quite difficult for most non-native Chinese speakers to read.

The novel is also available in English translation, the best one being by the scholar Dr. Anthony Yu. His version fills four volumes and runs over 2,300 pages.

Q: Is the book suitable for Chinese beginners?

Fortunately for people learning to read Chinese, there is now another way to read this book. My writing partner Xiao Hui Wang and I have spent the last five years writing a series of 31 books that retell the Journey to the West story in language that is accessible to anyone learning to read Chinese at the HSK 3 level. The stories in these books are told in a way that matches the original as closely as possible, but because they are graded readers they are much easier to read. The first book, Rise of the Monkey King, is relatively short and uses just 512 Chinese words. Each book adds more new words and slightly increases the length of the story and complexity of the writing, leading step by step to the longest and most challenging book, Book 31, The Final Trial. All told, the entire series uses about 2,200 different Chinese words excluding proper nouns.

Fortunately, the original novel is not written as a single continuous story, but is broken up into more or less standalone episodes, each one between one and four chapters in length. This makes it possible to read and enjoy any of the 31 graded readers without having to read the ones that came before it.

Each book is written in Simplified Chinese. The books include pinyin, English translation, and a glossary. Free audio versions of each book are available free of charge on YouTube.

Q: Where can I get these books?

A list of all 31 books in the series, along with short descriptions and links to the Amazon product pages and free YouTube audiobooks, can be found on the Imagin8 Press home page, www.imagin8press.com .

Jeff Pepper | Guest Author at That's Mandarin Blog

by Jeff Pepper

Jeff Pepper ([email protected]) is President and CEO of Imagin8 Press , and has written dozens of books about Chinese language and culture.

Over his thirty-five year career he has founded and led several successful computer software firms, including one that became a publicly traded company. He’s authored two software related books and has been awarded three U.S. patents.

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Submit Comment

Other posts you might like

Dong Chinese | Great Tool to Learn Chinese

Dong Chinese | Great Tool to Learn Chinese

Sep 13, 2022 | Guest Blogs & Media

The Best Tool to Learn MandarinChinese learning has become extremely popular around the world. One of the reasons why so many people are willing to learn Chinese is that China’s rapid economic growth offers numerous job opportunities to people from different...

Business in Chinese and Chinese Culture

Business in Chinese and Chinese Culture

Aug 25, 2022 | Guest Blogs & Media

China is among the leading economic giants in the world. Moreover, the economic, political and social stability coupled with favorable government policies and numerous growth opportunities make it an ideal market for international expansion. However, doing business in...

How Is Social Media Slang Changing the Formal Use of Chinese Language?

How Is Social Media Slang Changing the Formal Use of Chinese Language?

Aug 3, 2022 | Guest Blogs & Media

Internet culture has created new words that people sometimes use online. This is the case both for the English-language side of the World Wide Web and for any other corner of it – including the Chinese Internet. Users have been creating new slang words that are...

Get 2-week FREE Chinese Classes

Original Price:  ¥ 600

Wechat Logo

Journey to the West /Characters

A character page for Journey to the West . Note that they all qualify as Public Domain Characters .

Main Characters

Sun wukong/monkey.

  • Adult Child
  • Almighty Janitor : Before he finally became a Buddha, his official job in Heaven was a stableboy, until he found out how unimportant the job was and stormed off back to earth. As a side-effect, all Earthly horses love and admire him, because they can sense he was once a celestial groom.
  • Arrogant Kung Fu Guy : No matter who you are, he is a better fighter than you and will demonstrate if you say otherwise.
  • Blood Knight
  • Born as an Adult : From a stone.
  • Byronic Hero : It took 14 years of journeying with Tang Sang Zang to make him an actually good hearted and unselfish person.
  • Character Development : Journey to the West is as much about Son Wukong learning the value of kindness, humility and compassion as it is about him kicking demon-ass.
  • Crazy Prepared
  • Depending on the Writer : He ranges from a fully fledged Byronic Hero without a decent bone in his body to a bad-tempered Jerk with a Heart of Gold who only needed love and patience to truly grow up.
  • Everything's Better with Monkeys : Duh.
  • Exact Words : He doesn't like following Sangzang's orders so he gets around them with this trope. For example, Sangzang said "Never kill anyone." So when a group of greedy monks tried to kill them both to steal Sangzang's cossack, Monkey didn't kill them. Instead he fanned the flames of the fire they started to ensure their monastary burned down.
  • Eyes of Gold
  • Folk Hero : In real life
  • Hair-Trigger Temper : With a hubris to match.
  • The Hero : For a given value of "hero".
  • Hot-Blooded
  • I Have Many Names : In order they are: Stone Monkey, Handesome Monkey King, Protector of the Horse, Great Sage Equalling Heaven, Sun Wukong, Victorious Fighting Buddha.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold after much much character development.
  • Living Forever Is Awesome : Back when he was mortal he sought out immortality and only regretted it once; when he was trapped under that mountain.
  • Manly Tears : Sheds them for the first time after Tripitaka forgives him and takes him back in (the first time), and with some surprising-regularity later on when he gains a sense of compassion.
  • Munchkin : Practically their patron saint. In the first seven chapters all his actions are about gaining things for himself: the most powers, the best weapon, the best armor, the greatest title, etc.
  • Mind though, that he eventually does come to genuinely care about Tang Sangzang as a father figure that he loves and respects.
  • One-Man Army : In the first part of the story, Monkey takes on the entire military force of Heaven. He wins singlehandedly.
  • Rage Against the Heavens : Due to wounded ego and bruised pride more than anything; life on earth was pretty sweet for him, he just got so arrogant he thought he should be a god as well.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning : He has red-colored eyes, since that little sojourn inside Laojun's kiln.
  • Remember When You Blew Up a Sun? : He likes reminding people that he trashed Heaven.
  • Restraining Bolt : To be able to control him, Tripitaka tricked Monkey into putting on a magical headband so that he could cause Monkey intense headaches whenever he got up to mischief.
  • Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers : The Jade Emperor, Ruler of Heaven , will relax any kind of rule concering him because of his tremendous power.
  • Smug Super : Monkey is incredibly powerful, and unbelievably full of himself as a result.
  • Super Strength : His trademark "As You Will" crudel is really freakin' heavy, yet he said all other weapons were "too light".
  • Not Quite Flight : His cloud jumping allows him to reach Heaven In a Single Bound or cross an ocean.
  • Nigh Invulnerable : The reason the Buddha dropped a mountain on him is because the gods failed in outright destroying him.
  • Me's a Crowd : One of Monkey's signature moves has him pulling out a bunch of his hair and blowing on them, resulting in each hair turning into a clone of him.
  • Enlightenment Superpower : His magic comes from studying taoism and learning secrets from his master.
  • Trademark Favorite Food : Peaches
  • Trickster Archetype
  • True Sight : He can see through any disguise, illusion, or transformation.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds : With Pigsy
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting : 72 Earthly ones due to his Enlightenment Superpower .
  • Weaksauce Weakness : Despite being almost allmighty on earth or air, he sucks at underwater battles, and is forced to rely on Pigsy and Sandy to fight against water-bound enemies.
  • Weapon of Choice : Simple Staff , though Monkey's is by no means simple. Not only can it hit hard enough to take down gods, but it can extend to any length (from toothpick size to several hundred miles long) and provide Monkey a bridge to heaven.

Xuanzang/Tripitaka

  • Celibate Hero : Despite women lining up to have sex with him.
  • Chick Magnet : Basically every female they encounter, whether human or demon, desires him.
  • Decoy Protagonist : Possibly the oldest extant example. His primary purpose is to be kidnapped every two minutes so Sun Wukong can get all Badass while rescuing him.
  • Dude in Distress : He's not only a pacifist but completely untrained in magic or fighting.
  • The Chick : Honorary status as this because he's so feminine a character that a lot of live-action portrayals of the series often have women playing the part.
  • Incorruptible Pure Pureness : The reason why he was sent on the pilgrimage in the first place... but also the reason why he gets into so much trouble, as A: he's too "pure" to resist even the most obvious deceptions or trapes, and B: his purity draws swarms of monsters that hope to consume that purity and increase their own power.
  • The Load / The Millstone : Tripitaka not only constantly gets into trouble, he frequently diverts his disciples from their quest to pursue other minor goals, refuses to heed their advice, and places restrictions on their actions that make them harder pressed to go about their tasks. He also has absolutely no skills at all that let him contribute anything of worth when they get in trouble.
  • Non-Action Guy : He prays and preaches. That's about it.
  • Stupid Good : Tripitaka takes "goodness" to levels of life-threatening stupidity on more than one occasion. His disciples call him on this often, but he never listens to them.
  • Supernaturally Delicious and Nutritious : Quite literally, as he's so infused with holy power that eating even a single bite of his flesh will extend a demon's lifespan. Female demons though, seem to find him quite sexually attractive as well.
  • Thou Shalt Not Kill : Being a buddhist monk one of his vows is not killing anything ever . His companions think this is ridiculous.

Zhu Bajie/Pigsy

  • Adorkable : Depends on the Writer though.
  • Adult Child : Has an almost endearing naievity about him.
  • Big Eater / Gluttonous Pig : And how . So much so, in fact, that when the quest is over, the still-too-crude Pigsy is offered the existence as a lesser god; "Cleaner of the Heavenly Altar", which means eating all of the food that is offered to Buddha for the rest of time. He thinks this is the best job ever.
  • Butt Monkey : Other demons often think of making hams out of him, and Sun Wukong loves to prank him.
  • Casanova Wannabe : Pigsy really likes the ladies -- in fact, he was thrown out of heaven for trying to make off with a celestial maiden -- but his efforts at wooing them are poor to say the least.
  • Early-Bird Cameo : In the novel both he and Sha Wujing are actually met by Guanyin earlier and informed of Tripitaka.
  • Lovable Coward
  • Like Monkey, though, he does come to genuinely care about Tripitaka as a surrogate father, maybe even moreso due to his immature nature.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds : With Monkey
  • In his defense, he can often fight several demons on equal ground, but they either run away or call for help.
  • Weapon of Choice : A steel rake , which is actually a precious, deadly weapon.

Sha Wujing/Sandy

  • The Atoner : Though all three disciples are nominally working for their atonement, Sandy seems to be the only one who actually cares about making himself a better person.
  • The Big Guy : Though often mistakenly portrayed as a Kappa , the original source material depicts Sandy as a kind of river-dwelling Oni . In either case, he's the tallest of the disciples, though he's much more the thoughtful type than the bruiser type.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience : His appearance in modern productions is incredibly inconsistent, so most dress him in blue or green to identify him..
  • Early-Bird Cameo : In the novel both he and Zhu Bajie are actually met by Guanyin earlier and informed of Tripitaka.
  • Genius Bruiser
  • And just like his two elder "brothers", he comes to care for Tang Sangzang too, though more as a friend rather than a father-figure.
  • Out of Focus : Sandy is usually a secondary character in all the stories.
  • The Quiet One : Sandy rarely has much to say, but is often the most practical and philosophical of the group.
  • The Smart Guy
  • Weapon of Choice : In the actual novel, his weapon is a precious jewelled club , though in many versions he'll be armed with a giant halbeard instead.
  • Worf Effect : When he first appeared, he was good enough to fight Pigsy to a draw. Later on, he's described as the weakest of the three.
  • Baleful Polymorph / Attractive Bent Gender : At one point he turns into a beautiful, big-breasted damsel to slay a demon who already took out Sandy and Pigsy.
  • This turned out very badly for him. The Other Wiki calls him "the horse" or "the dragon prince", insists there are four main characters, and doesn't have a page on him. Ninja Sentai Kakuranger claims that there are four main characters, and that their fifth is a totally original creation. Most local theatre productions of the story leave him out entirely.

Other Characters

The demon king of the confused world.

  • BFS / Sinister Scimitar : His giant Dao, which Sun Wukong inherits and later barters for the Magic Staff.
  • Color Coded for Your Convenience : He wears black gold. Of course he's a villain.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard : Sun Wukong bifurcates him with his own sword.
  • Let's Fight Like Gentlemen : Seeing that his opponent is unarmed, he decides to face him in a unarmed fight. However, as he start losing, he decides to use his giant sword instead.
  • Starter Villain : The very first serious villain fought by our hero.
  • Badass : Fought Sun Wukong, forced him to flee and eventually captured him.
  • Genius Bruiser : Not only he's strong enough to fight Sun Wukong to a draw, but he can also see through all his transformations.
  • Prongs of Poseidon : His weapon is an edged trident.
  • Size Sifter : Turn himself into a colossal, fanged giant to scare Sun Wukong and his army.
  • Unusual Ears : Being and immortal, his lobes reach his shoulders.
  • Weaksauce Weakness : There's a particular bird that he won't touch or even get close to.

Gold Horned and Silver Horned Kings

Two of the most famous antagonists, are two demon lords who posses five magical treasures: the Crinsom Gourd, the Jade Pot, the Seven Star Sword, the Banana Fan and the Golden Canopy Rope

  • Acid Pool : The Gourd has the power of absorbing people inside it and melt them.
  • Authority Equals Asskicking : They're Kings.
  • BFS : Supposedly the Seven Star Sword, which is also a Sinister Scimitar .
  • Face Heel Turn : They used to work for Taishang Laojun. They come back to him after being beaten by Sun Wukong.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard : Monkey use their own Treasures against them.
  • Horned Humanoid
  • I'm Melting : What happened to them. Luckily, their true forms were spared.
  • Large and In Charge
  • Overshadowed by Awesome : The Gourd, the Fan and the Sword are probably the most famed treasures in that order. But the Pot and Rope? Good luck finding someone who actually knows what they do.
  • Paper Fan of Doom : The Banana Leaf Fan.
  • Playing with Fire : The above mentioned Fan.
  • Stock Shout Out : Comes with being two of the most famous villains in the story.
  • Weapons That Suck : The Gourd and the Pot. According to most tradition, you have to point it towards the victim, said his/her name and have him/her answer a question.

The Red Boy

  • Arrogant Kung Fu Guy
  • Badass : One of the few villains that Sun Wukong couldn't beat by himself.
  • Breath Weapon : Can spit fire from his mouth and smoke from his eyes and nostrils.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice : When he sits on Guanyin's throne it transforms into a bunch of swords, and then into halbeards.
  • Playing with Fire : His flames are so powerful that water do nothing against them, and Sun Wukong was barely able to survive them.
  • Restraining Bolt : Ends up with five of them when he's forced into a Heel Face Turn .
  • Too Dumb to Live : Leaves the fight against Sun Wukong after spitting some fire against him without checking out his health status. Later when he sees Guanyin's empty Lotus throne he smugly sits on it acting as her. It goes as well as you could possibly imagine.
  • X on a Stick : As if his fire powers weren't enough, he has a spear tipped with flames.

The Scorpion Lady

  • Affably Evil : Towards Tripitaka. Much less so towards the three disciples.
  • Dark Action Girl : She's more than capable of fighting the three heroes on equal footing.
  • Femme Fatale : Actively tries to force Tripitaka to sleep with her.
  • Poisonous Person : Her touch (actually the stinger), which she uses on Monkey and later Pigsy.
  • Prongs of Poseidon : Her weapon is described as a large trident-like spear. Apparently it was her pincers.
  • Scary Scorpions

Buffalo Demon King

  • A Load of Bull : Is a Bull Demon.
  • Affably Evil : At first he's actually friendly towards Sun Wukong.
  • Carry a Big Stick : When he's not Dual-Wielding the swords of his wife.
  • Face Heel Turn : Used to be best pals with Sun Wukong and one of his six most loyal True Companions . Then he became a Demon King.
  • One-Winged Angel : Turns into a giant white bull in order to crush Monkey.
  • Roaring Rampage of Revenge : After finding out that Monkey transformed into him to steal the Fan from his wife, with whom he flirted too.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife : With the Iron Fan Princess. He also cuckolds her with his mistress, the Jade-Faced Princess.

Iron Fan Princess

  • Blow You Away : Her giant fan can summon storms capable of putting off giant fires. Probably the Ur Example of all the wind-generating fans.
  • Dark Action Girl : She's a Rakshasa, so...
  • Dual-Wielding : With swords.
  • Mama Bear : Hates Sun Wukong for hurting her son, the Red Boy.
  • Paper Fan of Doom : Her Palm Leaf Fan. She also has a fake one which makes flames higher.
  • Ugly Guy, Hot Wife : With the Buffalo Demon King.
  • Villainous Breakdown : After getting all drunk and flirty around her "husband" and giving him the Fan, he reveals himself as Monkey. She wasn't pleased.
  • Womb Level : In order to beat her, Sun Wukong turn into a fly, get in her mouth and start punching her stomach from the inside.
  • Yandere : Hates her husband for having a lover.

The Three Kings of Lion Camel Cave

  • Animal Motifs : Lion, Elephant and Peng (a mythological giant bird).
  • Authority Equals Asskicking
  • Badass : One of the few foes which Sun Wukong can't take on by himself.
  • Big Badass Bird of Prey : The Thousand Ri Travelling Peng.
  • Blade on a Stick : The Elephant and the Peng.
  • Heel Face Turn : After getting stormed by the armies of the Heavens.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard : The Lion tries to swallow Monkey, who wreak havoc in his innards. Later the Elephant tries to seize him with his trunk, but he's defeated when monkey use the trunk to beat him up.
  • Panthera Awesome : The Azure Lion.
  • Sinister Scimitar : The Lion.
  • Terrible Trio
  • Vocal Dissonance : The second demon looks like am elephantine brute, but has the voice of a maiden.

The Rhino Kings

  • Eaten Alive : The first Rhino king is eaten by one of the heavenly wood star spirits sent to capture them.
  • Rhino Rampage
  • Trademark Favourite Food : Lantern oil. They also want to fry Tripitaka.
  • Weapon of Choice : The first brother uses an axe, the second a scimitar, the third a staff.
  • Wolfpack Boss : Because they fight together and with lots of underlings, they're too hard for Monkey to defeat.

the journey to the west characters

Yearbook_2023_Results

  • Anime Search
  • Seasonal Anime

Recommendations

  • 2024 Challenge
  • Fantasy Anime League
  • Manga Search
  • Manga Store

Interest Stacks

  • Featured Articles
  • Episode Videos
  • Anime Trailers
  • Advertising
  • MAL Supporter

The Westward

Alternative Titles

Information, available at.

icon

  • Characters & Staff

Characters & Voice Actors

Opening theme, ending theme.

the journey to the west characters

Recent News

Recent forum discussion, more top anime.

  • 1 Sousou no Frieren
  • 2 Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
  • 3 Steins;Gate
  • 5 Shingeki no Kyojin Season 3 Part 2

More Top Airing Anime

  • 2 Kusuriya no Hitorigoto
  • 3 Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu Season 2
  • 4 Kingdom 5th Season
  • 5 One Piece

More Most Popular Characters

  • 1 Lamperouge, Lelouch
  • 3 Monkey D., Luffy
  • 4 Lawliet, L
  • 5 Roronoa, Zoro

Journey to the West

  • View history

Journey to the West (西遊記) is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en . It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.

The novel is an extended account of the legendary pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang along the ancient Silk Road from China to India and back. Xuanzang traveled to the " Western Regions ", that is, Central Asia and India, to obtain Buddhist sacred texts ( sūtras ) and returned after many trials and much suffering. It retains the broad outline of Xuanzang's own account, Great Tang Records on the Western Regions , but the Ming dynasty novel adds elements from folk tales and the author's invention, for example, that Gautama Buddha gave this task to the monk and provided him with three protectors who agree to help him as an atonement for their sins. These disciples are Sun Wukong , Zhu Wuneng and Sha Wujing , together with a dragon prince who acts as Xuanzang's steed, a white horse.

Journey to the West has strong roots in Chinese folk religion, Chinese mythology, Daoist and Buddhist philosophy, and the pantheon of Daoist immortals and Buddhist bodhisattvas are still reflective of some Chinese religious attitudes today. Enduringly popular, the tale is at once a comic adventure story, an epic odyssey, a spring of spiritual insight, and an extended allegory in which the group of pilgrims journeys towards enlightenment by the power and virtue of cooperation.

  • 1 Publication and translations
  • 2 Authorship
  • 3 Historical context
  • 5.1 Tripitaka or Xuanzang
  • 5.2 Monkey King or Sun Wukong
  • 5.3 Zhu Bajie
  • 5.4 Sha Wujing
  • 7 Notable English-language translations
  • 8 Media adaptations
  • 9 External links

Publication and translations [ ]

  • It was published around 1592
  • It is on wikisource 西游记 (Chinese)
  • Translations: " Monkey " is an abridged English translation by Arthur Waley

Authorship [ ]

The four protagonists, from left to right: Sun Wukong , Tang Sanzang (on the White Dragon Horse ), Zhu Bajie , and Sha Wujing .

Journey to the West was thought to have been written and published anonymously by Wu Cheng'en in the 16th century. Hu Shih, literary scholar and then Ambassador to the United States, wrote that the people of Wu's hometown attributed it early on to Wu, and kept records as early as 1625, making Journey to the West one of the earliest Chinese novels for which the authorship is officially documented.

Although Wu had knowledge of Chinese bureaucracy and politics, the novel does not obviously write much about it.

Anthony C. Yu states that the identity of the author, as with so many other major works of Chinese fiction, "remains unclear" but that Wu remains "the most likely" author. The question of authorship is further complicated by the preexistence of much of the novel's material in the form of folk tales.

Regardless of the origins and authorship, Journey to the West has become the authoritative version of these folk stories, and Wu's name has become inextricably linked with the book.

Historical context [ ]

The novel Journey to the West was based on historical events. Xuanzang (602 - 664) was a monk at Jingtu Temple in late-Sui Dynasty and early-Tang Dynasty Chang'an. Motivated by seeking better translations of Buddhist scriptures, Xuanzang left Chang'an in 629, in defiance of Emperor Tang Taizong 's ban on travel. Helped by sympathetic Buddhists, he traveled via Gansu and Qinghai to Kumul (Hami), thence following the Tianshan mountains to Turpan. He then crossed what are today Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Afghanistan, into Gandhara, reaching India in 630. Xuanzang traveled throughout the Indian subcontinent for the next thirteen years, visiting important Buddhist pilgrimage sites, studying at the ancient university at Nalanda, and debating the rivals of Buddhism.

Xuanzang left India in 643 and arrived back in Chang'an in 646. Although he had defied the imperial travel ban when he left, Xuanzang received a warm welcome from Emperor Taizong upon his return. The emperor provided money and support for Xuanzang's projects. He joined Da Ci'en Monastery (Monastery of Great Maternal Grace), where he led the building of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda to store the scriptures and icons he had brought back from India. He recorded his journey in the book Great Tang Records on the Western Regions. With the support of the emperor, he established an institute at Yuhua Gong (Palace of the Lustre of Jade) monastery dedicated to translating the scriptures he had brought back. His translation and commentary work established him as the founder of the Dharma character school of Buddhism. Xuanzang died on March 7, 664. The Xingjiao Monastery was established in 669 to house his ashes.

Popular and story-teller versions of Xuanzang's journey dating as far back as the Southern Song Dynasty include a monkey character as a protagonist.

Synopsis [ ]

The novel has 100 chapters that can be divided into four unequal parts.

  • The first part, which includes chapters 1–7, is a self-contained introduction to the main story. It deals entirely with the earlier exploits of Sun Wukong, a monkey born from a stone nourished by the Five Elements, who learns the art of the Dao, 72 polymorphic transformations, combat, and secrets of immortality, and through guile and force makes a name for himself, Qitian Dasheng . His powers grow to match the forces of all of the Eastern (Daoist) deities, and the prologue culminates in Sun's rebellion against Heaven, during a time when he garnered a post in the celestial bureaucracy. Hubris proves his downfall when the Buddha manages to trap him under a mountain, sealing it with a talisman for five hundred years.
  • The second part (chapters 8–12) introduces the nominal main character, Xuanzang (Tang Sanzang), through his early biography and the background to his great journey. Dismayed that "the land of the South knows only greed, hedonism, promiscuity, and sins", the Buddha instructs the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara ( Guanyin ) to search Tang China for someone to take the Buddhist sutras of "transcendence and persuasion for good will" back to the East. Part of the story here also relates to how Xuanzang becomes a monk (as well as revealing his past life as a disciple of the Buddha named " Golden Cicada " (金蟬子) and comes about being sent on this pilgrimage by Emperor Taizong, who previously escaped death with the help of an official in the Underworld).
  • The third and longest section of the work is chapters 13–99, an episodic adventure story in which Xuanzang sets out to bring back Buddhist scriptures from Leiyin Temple on Vulture Peak in India, but encounters various evils along the way. The section is set in the sparsely populated lands along the Silk Road between China and India, including Xinjiang, Turkestan, and Afghanistan. The geography described in the book is, however, almost entirely fantasy; once Xuanzang departs Chang'an , the Tang capital, and crosses the frontier (somewhere in Gansu province), he finds himself in a wilderness of deep gorges and tall mountains, inhabited by demons and animal spirits, who regard him as a potential meal (since his flesh was believed to give immortality to whomever ate it), with the occasional hidden monastery or royal city-state amidst the harsh setting.

Episodes consist of 1–4 chapters and usually involve Xuanzang being captured and having his life threatened while his disciples try to find an ingenious (and often violent) way of liberating him. Although some of Xuanzang's predicaments are political and involve ordinary human beings, they more frequently consist of run-ins with various demons, many of whom turn out to be earthly manifestations of heavenly beings (whose sins will be negated by eating the flesh of Xuanzang) or animal-spirits with enough Daoist spiritual merit to assume semi-human forms.

Chapters 13–22 do not follow this structure precisely, as they introduce Xuanzang's disciples, who, inspired or goaded by Guanyin, meet and agree to serve him along the way in order to atone for their sins in their past lives.

The first is Sun Wukong, or Monkey, whose given name loosely means "awakened to emptiness", trapped by the Buddha for defying Heaven. He appears right away in chapter 13 . The most intelligent and violent of the disciples, he is constantly reproved for his violence by Xuanzang. Ultimately, he can only be controlled by a magic gold ring that Guanyin has placed around his head, which causes him unbearable headaches when Xuanzang chants the Ring Tightening Mantra.

The second, appearing in chapter 19 , is Zhu Bajie, literally "Eight Precepts Pig", sometimes translated as Pigsy or just Pig. He was previously the Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy, a commander of Heaven's naval forces, and was banished to the mortal realm for flirting with the moon goddess Chang'e. A reliable fighter, he is characterised by his insatiable appetites for food and sex, and is constantly looking for a way out of his duties, which causes significant conflict with Sun Wukong.

The third, appearing in chapter 22, is the river ogre Sha Wujing , also translated as Friar Sand or Sandy. He was previously the celestial Curtain Lifting General, and was banished to the mortal realm for dropping (and shattering) a crystal goblet of the Queen Mother of the West. He is a quiet but generally dependable character, who serves as the straight foil to the comic relief of Sun and Zhu.

The fourth is Yulong , the third son of the Dragon King of the West Sea, who was sentenced to death for setting fire to his father's great pearl. He was saved by Guanyin from execution to stay and wait for his call of duty. He appears first in chapter 15, but has almost no speaking role, as throughout the story he mainly appears as a horse that Xuanzang rides on.

Chapter 22 , where Sha Wujing is introduced, also provides a geographical boundary, as the river that the travelers cross brings them into a new "continent". Chapters 23–86 take place in the wilderness, and consist of 24 episodes of varying length, each characterised by a different magical monster or evil magician. There are impassably wide rivers, flaming mountains, a kingdom with an all-female population, a lair of seductive spider spirits, and many other fantastic scenarios. Throughout the journey, the four brave disciples have to fend off attacks on their master and teacher Xuanzang from various monsters and calamities.

It is strongly suggested that most of these calamities are engineered by fate and/or the Buddha , as, while the monsters who attack are vast in power and many in number, no real harm ever comes to the four travelers. Some of the monsters turn out to be escaped celestial beasts belonging to bodhisattvas or Daoist sages and deities. Towards the end of the book there is a scene where the Buddha literally commands the fulfillment of the last disaster, because Xuanzang is one short of the 81 tribulations he needs to face before attaining Buddhahood.

In Chapter 87, Xuanzang finally reaches the borderlands of India, and chapters 87–99 present magical adventures in a somewhat more mundane (though still exotic) setting. At length, after a pilgrimage said to have taken fourteen years (the text actually only provides evidence for nine of those years, but presumably there was room to add additional episodes) they arrive at the half-real, half-legendary destination of Vulture Peak, where, in a scene simultaneously mystical and comic, Xuanzang receives the scriptures from the living Buddha.

Chapter 100, the last of all, quickly describes the return journey to the Tang Empire, and the aftermath in which each traveler receives a reward in the form of posts in the bureaucracy of the heavens. Sun Wukong (Monkey) and Xuanzang (monk) achieve Buddhahood, Sha Wujing (Sandy) becomes an arhat, the dragon horse is made a nāga, and Zhu Bajie (Pig), whose good deeds have always been tempered by his greed, is promoted to an altar cleanser (i.e. eater of excess offerings at altars).

Main characters [ ]

Tripitaka or xuanzang [ ].

The monk Xuanzang (also referred to in the story as Tang Sanzang, meaning "Tang Tripitaka Master", with Tang referring to the Tang Dynasty and Sanzang referring to the Tripitaka, the main categories of texts in the Buddhist canon which is also used as an honorific for some Buddhist monks) is a Buddhist monk who had renounced his family to become a monk from childhood. He is just called Tripitaka in many English versions of the story. He set off for Dahila kingdom (天竺国, an appellation for India in ancient China) to retrieve original Buddhist scriptures for China. Although he is helpless in defending himself, the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Guanyin) helps by finding him powerful disciples who aid and protect him on his journey. In return, the disciples will receive enlightenment and forgiveness for their sins once the journey is done. Along the way, they help the local inhabitants by defeating various monsters and demons who try to obtain immortality by eating Xuanzang's flesh.

Monkey King or Sun Wukong [ ]

Sun Wukong is the name given to this character by his teacher, Subhuti, the latter part of which means "Awakened to Emptiness" (in the Waley translation, Aware-of-Vacuity); he is called Monkey King. He is born on Flower Fruit Mountain from a stone egg that forms from an ancient rock created by the coupling of Heaven and Earth. He first distinguishes himself by bravely entering the Water Curtain Cave on the mountain; for this feat, his monkey tribe gives him the title of "Handsome Monkey King". After angering several gods and coming to the attention of the Jade Emperor, he is given a minor position in heaven as the Keeper of Horses (弼马温) so they can keep an eye on him. This job is a very low position, and when he realises that he was given a low position and not considered a full-fledged god, he becomes very angry. Upon returning to his mountain, he puts up a flag and declares himself the "Great Sage Equal to Heaven." Then the Jade Emperor dispatches celestial soldiers to arrest Sun Wukong, but no one succeeds. The Jade Emperor has no choice but to appoint him to be the guardian of the heavenly peach garden. The peaches in the garden bear fruit every 3,000 years, and eating its flesh will bestow immortality, so Sun Wukong eats one and becomes more powerful and near-matchless. Later, after fairies who come to collect peaches for the heavenly peach banquet inform Sun Wukong he is not invited and make fun of him, he starts causing trouble in Heaven and defeats an army of 100,000 celestial troops, led by the Four Heavenly Kings, Erlang Shen, and Nezha. Eventually, the Jade Emperor appeals to the Buddha, who detains Wukong under a mountain called Five Elements Mountain. Sun Wukong is kept under the mountain for 500 years, and cannot escape because of a spell that was put on the mountain. He is later set free when Xuanzang comes upon him during his pilgrimage and accepts him as a disciple.

His primary weapon is his staff, the "Ruyi Jingu Bang", which he can shrink down to the size of a needle and keep in his ear, as well as expand it to gigantic proportions. The rod, which weighs 17,550 pounds, was originally a pillar supporting the undersea palace of the Dragon King of the East Sea, but he was able to pull it out of its support and can swing it with ease. The Dragon King had told Sun Wukong he could have the staff if he could lift it, but was angry when the monkey was actually able to pull it out and accused him of being a thief; hence Sun Wukong was insulted, so he demanded a suit of armour and refused to leave until he received one. The Dragon King, unwilling to see a monkey making troubles in his favourite place, also gave him a suit of golden armour. These gifts, combined with his devouring of the peaches of immortality, three jars of elixir, and his time being tempered in Laozi's Eight-Trigram Furnace (he gained a steel-hard body and fiery golden eyes that could see very far into the distance and through any disguise. He is therefore always able to recognise a demon in disguise while the rest of the pilgrimage cannot. However, his eyes become weak to smoke), makes Sun Wukong the strongest member of the pilgrimage by far. Besides these abilities, he can also pluck hairs from his body and blow on them to convert them into whatever he wishes (usually clones of himself to gain a numerical advantage in battle). Although he is a master of the 72 methods of transformation (七十二变), and can transform into a bird (giving him the ability to fly), he can use his "somersault cloud" enabling him to travel vast distances in a single leap. The monkey, nimble and quick-witted, uses these skills to defeat all but the most powerful of demons on the journey.

Sun's behavior is checked by a band placed around his head by Guanyin, which cannot be removed by Sun Wukong himself until the journey's end. Xuanzang can tighten this band by chanting the "Ring Tightening Mantra" (taught to him by Guanyin) whenever he needs to chastise him. The spell is referred to by Xuanzang's disciples as the "Headache Sutra", which is the Buddhist mantra "oṃ maṇipadme hūṃ". Xuanzang speaks this mantra quickly in repetition.

Sun Wukong's childlike playfulness is a huge contrast to his cunning mind. This, coupled with his great power, makes him a trickster hero. His antics present a lighter side in what proposes to be a long and dangerous trip into the unknown.

Zhu Bajie [ ]

Zhu Bajie (literally "Pig of the Eight Prohibitions") is also known as Zhu Wuneng ("Pig Awakened to Ability"), and given the name Pigsy, Monk Pig or just simply Pig in English.

Once an immortal who was the Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy commanding 100,000 naval soldiers of the Milky Way, he drank too much during a celebration of gods and attempted to flirt with the moon goddess Chang'e, resulting in his banishment into the mortal world. He was supposed to be reborn as a human, but ends up in the womb of a sow due to an error at the Reincarnation Wheel, which turns him into a half-man half-pig monster. Zhu Bajie was very greedy, and could not survive without eating ravenously. Staying within the Yunzhan Dong ("cloud-pathway cave"), he was commissioned by Guanyin to accompany Xuanzang to India and given the new name Zhu Wuneng.

However, Zhu Bajie's indulgence in women led him to the Gao Family Village, where he posed as a normal being and wedded a maiden. Later, when the villagers discovered that he was a monster, Zhu Bajie hid the girl away, and the girl wailed bitterly every night. At this point, Xuanzang and Sun Wukong arrived at the Gao Family Village and helped defeat him. Renamed Zhu Bajie by Xuanzang, he consequently joined the pilgrimage to the West.

His weapon of choice is the jiuchidingpa ("nine-tooth iron rake"). He is also capable of 36 transformations (as compared to Sun Wukong's 72), and can travel on clouds, but not as fast as Sun. However, Zhu is noted for his fighting skills in water, which he used to combat Sha Wujing, who later joined them on the journey. He is the second strongest member of the team.

Sha Wujing [ ]

Shā Wùjìng (literally meaning "Sand Awakened to Purity"), given the name Friar Sand or Sandy in English, was once a celestial Curtain Lifting General, who stood in attendance by the imperial chariot in the Hall of Miraculous Mist. He was exiled to the mortal world and made to look like a monster because he accidentally smashed a crystal goblet belonging to the Queen Mother of the West during a Peach Banquet. The now-hideous immortal took up residence in the Flowing Sands River, terrorising surrounding villages and travelers trying to cross the river. However, he was subdued by Sun Wukong and Zhu Bajie when Xuanzang's party came across him. They consequently took him in, as part of the pilgrimage to the West.

Sha's weapon is the yueyachan ("Crescent-Moon-Shovel" or "Monk's Spade"). He also knows eighteen transformation methods and is highly effective in water combat. He is about as strong as Zhu Bajie, and is much stronger than Sun Wukong in water. However, Zhu can defeat Sha in a test of endurance, and Sun can almost certainly defeat him both on land and in the air.

Sha is known to be the most obedient, logical, and polite of the three disciples, and always takes care of his master, seldom engaging in the bickering of his fellow disciples. He has no major faults nor any extraordinary characteristics. Perhaps this is why he is sometimes seen as a minor character. He does however serve as the peacekeeper of the group mediating between Sun and Zhu and even Xuanzang and the others. He is also the person whom Xuanzang consults when faced with difficult decisions.

Sha eventually becomes an arhat at the end of the journey, giving him a higher level of exaltation than Zhu Bajie, who is relegated to cleaning every altar at every Buddhist temple for eternity, but lower spiritually than Sun Wukong or Xuanzang, who are granted Buddhahood.

Sequels [ ]

The brief satirical novel Xiyoubu (西游补, "A Supplement to the Journey to the West", c. 1640) follows Sun Wukong as he is trapped in a magical dream world created by the Qing Fish Demon, the embodiment of desire (情, qing). Sun travels back and forth through time, during which he serves as the adjunct King of Hell and judges the soul of the recently dead traitor Qin Hui during the Song dynasty, takes on the appearance of a beautiful concubine and causes the downfall of the Qin dynasty, and even faces Pāramitā, one of his five sons born to the rakshasa Princess Iron Fan, on the battlefield during the Tang dynasty. The events of Xiyoubu take place between the end of chapter 61 and the beginning of chapter 62 of Journey to the West. The author, Dong Yue (董說), wrote the book because he wanted to create an opponent—in this case desire—that Sun could not defeat with his great strength and martial skill.

Notable English-language translations [ ]

  • Monkey: A Folk-Tale of China (1942), an abridged translation by Arthur Waley. For many years, the most well-known translation available in English. The Waley translation has also been published as Adventures of the Monkey God, Monkey to the West, Monkey: [A] Folk Novel of China, and The Adventures of Monkey, and in a further abridged version for children, Dear Monkey. Waley noted in his preface that the method adopted in earlier abridgements was "to leave the original number of separate episodes, but drastically reduce them in length, particularly by cutting out dialogue. I have for the most part adopted the opposite principle, omitting many episodes, but translating those that are retained almost in full, leaving out, however, most of the incidental passages in verse, which go very badly into English." The degree of abridgement, 30 out of the 100 chapters (which corresponds to roughly 1/6 of the whole text), and excising most of the verse, has led to a recent critic awarding it the lesser place, as a good retelling of the story. On the other hand, it has been praised as "remarkably faithful to the original spirit of the work."
  • The literary scholar Andrew H. Plaks points out that Waley's abridgement reflected his interpretation of the novel. This "brilliant translation... through its selection of episodes gave rise to the misleading impression that that this is essentially a compendium of popular materials marked by folk wit and humor." Waley consciously followed Hu Shih's lead, as shown in Hu's introduction to the 1943 edition. Hu scorned the allegorical interpretations of the novel as old-fashioned and instead insisted that the stories were simply comic. Hu Shih's interpretation reflected the popular reading of the novel, but does not account for the levels of meaning and the allegorical framework which scholars in China and the west have shown to be an important part of the late Ming text.
  • Journey to the West (1982–1984), a complete translation in three volumes by William John Francis Jenner. Readable translation without scholarly apparatus.
  • The Journey to the West (1977–1983), a complete translation in four volumes by Anthony C. Yu, the first to translate the poems and songs which Yu argues are essential in understanding the author's meanings. Yu also supplied an extensive scholarly introduction and notes. In 2006, an abridged version of this translation was published by University of Chicago Press under the title The Monkey and the Monk. In 2012, University of Chicago Press issued a revised edition of Yu's translation in four volumes. In addition to correcting or amending the translation and converting romanization to pinyin, the new edition updates and augment the annotations, revises and expands the introduction in respect to new scholarship and modes of interpretation.

Media adaptations [ ]

In 1986, the novel was made into a TV series by Yang Jie and soon became popular with highly regarded performances by actors such as Liu Xiao Ling Tong, Ma Dehua and others. It follows the original novel faithfully and is widely regarded as a classic. This TV series was first aired in 1986 and still airs in many countries, enjoying wide popularity.

Aside from this, the 2010 video game Enslaved: Odyssey to the West was loosely based on the story, featuring a man named "Monkey" accompanying a female engineer named Trip on a journey across a post-apocalypse North America.

The manga series Dragon Ball and its main character, Son Goku, were originally loosely based on the story.

The Genesis Unit from the Wily Tower game mode in Mega Man: The Wily Wars are loosely based on the main characters from Journey to the West. Buster Rod G is based on Sun Wukong, Hyper Storm H is based on Zhu Wuneng, and Mega Water S is based on Sha Wining.

External links [ ]

  • Wikipedia article
  • 1 Sun Wukong
  • 2 Chapter 1
  • 3 Zhu Bajie

IMAGES

  1. Journey to the west characters side by side : r/SoulCaliburCreations

    the journey to the west characters

  2. Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back: Journey to the West The

    the journey to the west characters

  3. Journey to the West (1986 TV Series)

    the journey to the west characters

  4. Journey to west characters with line art Vector Image

    the journey to the west characters

  5. ‘Journey to the West’ (西游记) 1986: The Unsurpassed Classic

    the journey to the west characters

  6. Journey to the West

    the journey to the west characters

VIDEO

  1. journey to the west/movieexplanation#shorts

  2. journey to the west 😱/movieexplanation#shorts #ytshortsvideo

  3. The Journey to the West

  4. UNSTOPPABLE!

  5. Journey To The West

  6. The importance of Journey to the West

COMMENTS

  1. List of Journey to the West characters

    Antagonists Demon King of Confusion. The Demon King of Confusion (混世魔王) is a demon king who seizes control of the Water Curtain Cave (水簾洞) when Sun Wukong left to learn magic from Subhuti.He chases away the primates and occupies the cave with his minions. Many years later, Sun Wukong returns, defeats the demon king and takes back the cave.

  2. Journey to the West

    Journey to the West (Chinese: Xiyou ji 西遊記) is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en.It is regarded as one of the greatest Classic Chinese Novels, and has been described as arguably the most popular literary work in East Asia. Arthur Waley's 1942 abridged translation, Monkey, is known in English-speaking countries.

  3. Journey to the West

    Journey to the West, foremost Chinese comic novel, written by Wu Cheng'en, a novelist and poet of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The novel is based on the actual 7th-century pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuanzang (602-664) to India in search of sacred texts. The story itself was already a part of Chinese folk and literary tradition in the form of colloquial stories, a poetic novelette ...

  4. The Journey to the West Characters

    Tripitaka. Also known as Tan Sanzang, Tripitaka is the protagonist of Journey to the West. He is a pious Buddhist monk chosen by the Buddha to deliver his scriptures from their home in India to ...

  5. Characters

    The following is a list of characters in the Chinese classical novel Journey to the West, including those mentioned by name only. Sun Wukong (also known as the Monkey Guy) Tang Sanzang Zhu Bajie Sha Wujing White Dragon Horse (白龍馬). Tang Sanzang's steed and the third son of the Dragon King of the West Sea. The Buddha (如來佛) Avalokiteśvara (觀世音菩薩), better known as Guanyin ...

  6. Journey to the West

    Journey to the West is a fictionalized account of the legends surrounding the 16-year pilgrimage of the Buddhist monk Xuánzàng (602-664) to India during the Táng dynasty, to obtain Buddhist religious texts (sutras).Xuánzàng reached India after experiencing innumerable trials and hardships. He lived there for more than a decade, studying classics of Buddhism and Indian culture at Nalanda ...

  7. Journey to the West Wiki

    Journey to the West wiki is dedicated to those interested in the legend of Journey to the West, written by author Wu Cheng'en. For over 500 years, the ancient novel has gained popularity worldwide. Its influence spread through media like films, TV, book, video games, et cetera. The story is comprised of various myths from religions like Taoism ...

  8. Journey to the West

    "Journey to the West"'s characters are a combination of folk characters and one character based on a real individual. In the Chinese edition, the Monkey King is the title character, not Xuanzang.

  9. The Journey to the West Summary

    Wu Cheng'en's Journey to the West is a meandering, fictionalized account of an actual seventh-century pilgrimage to India made by Xuanzang, a Chinese Buddhist monk searching for sacred texts ...

  10. Category:Journey to the West characters

    Characters depicted in the novel Journey to the West (16th century). Pages in category "Journey to the West characters" The following 35 pages are in this category, out of 35 total. This list may not reflect recent changes. List of Journey to the West characters ...

  11. Which characters from The Journey to the West are based on real people

    As well as the main protaganist, Tang Sanzan, there are three other major characters, all of whom are his companions on his journey. They are Sun Wokung, better known as the Monkey King, and ...

  12. Journey to the West

    This is a website about Journey to the West. Contains a summary,detailed character profiles, author information, history and origins, information on English translations, books, related films, shows, anime/manga,and also fanfiction.

  13. Journey to the West: Volume I Character Analysis

    Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of "Journey to the West: Volume I" by Wu Cheng'en, Transl. Anthony C. Yu. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz ...

  14. Journey to the West / Characters

    A character page for Journey to the West. Note that they all qualify as a Public Domain Character. The page has been split, so tropes that apply to characters are sorted into the following: Journey To The West - Pilgrims Journey To The West - …

  15. Sun Wukong

    Portrayals []. Sun Wukong is portrayed by Zhang Jinlai, Wu Yue Trivia []. Monkey King is a mythological figure who features in a body of legends. Xuanzang's story had been told since the Tang dynasty, and the appearance of a monkey character can be traced back to the Song dynasty.; The supernatural abilities displayed by Wukong and some other characters were widely thought of as "magic powers ...

  16. Journey to the West: Volume I Summary and Study Guide

    The Journey to the West: Volume I (1983), translated and edited by Anthony C. Yu, contains the first 25 chapters of a 100-chapter hero's epic, an allegory designed to impart knowledge on how to behave and what values to extol. Originally published in the late 16th century during the late Ming Dynasty, this epic is "loosely based on the famous pilgrimage of Xuanzang…the monk who went from ...

  17. "Monkey King: Journey to the West" by Wu Ch'eng En: Analysis

    Journey to the West Analysis. The tale of Monkey and his journey deep into the Buddhist heartland of India is an elaborate tale filled with adventure, allegory, and spiritual insight. Monkey tricks his way in and out of many stressful situations. He is a deviant, mischievous little fellow who can never be trusted.

  18. Journey to the West: Introduction

    The original Journey to the West is a very long book. It contains 100 chapters and is 588,000 Chinese characters long. It uses a very large vocabulary of 4,500 different words, over 90% of which are not included in HSK Levels 1-6, making it quite difficult for most non-native Chinese speakers to read.

  19. Journey to the West/Characters

    Blood Knight. Born as an Adult: From a stone. Byronic Hero: It took 14 years of journeying with Tang Sang Zang to make him an actually good hearted and unselfish person. Journey to the West is as much about Son Wukong learning the value of kindness, humility and compassion as it is about him kicking demon-ass.

  20. Sha Wujing

    Sha Wujing (Chinese: 沙悟淨; pinyin: Shā Wùjìng) is one of the three disciples of the Buddhist pilgrim Tang Sanzang in the 16th century novel Journey to the West written by Wu Cheng'en in the Ming dynasty, although versions of his character predate the Ming novel.In the source novel, his background is the least developed of the pilgrims, and he contributes the least to their efforts.

  21. Xi Xing Ji (The Westward)

    Xi Xing Ji/ The Westward. Story (8/10) Very Good. Probably most people has already heard about famous Chinese tale called journey to the west. This story is basically what happened after the journey. It begins in a dragon kingdom where wolf demon (protagonist) who is friends with the Dragon princesses. There is a great war between Gods and ...

  22. Zhu Bajie

    Zhu Bajie (猪八戒), sometimes translated Piggy or Pigsy, is one of the three helpers of Tang Sanzang and a major character of the novel Journey to the West. He is also called Zhu Wuneng (猪悟能) and idiot (呆子). He looks like a terrible monster, part human and part pig, he was also once an immortal which commanded 100,000 troops of the Milky Way. He was banished to Earth for ...

  23. Pin by Fernan Lancho on Guardado rápido in 2024

    Journey To The West. Made by @Solianka_s0 on twitter. Soloma #1 mac's bully. Get Out Now. Lego For Kids. Fandoms. Kid Memes. Reasons To Live. Everything Is Awesome. Wukong ★. تَـرِحَ. Son Wukong. Chinese Mythology. Himi. Dark Wallpaper Iphone. Tv Characters.

  24. Dominique Lebreton on Instagram: "Yoshitoshi illustre en 1864 Sun

    37 likes, 26 comments - d_moma.argilla on March 9, 2024: "Yoshitoshi illustre en 1864 Sun Wukong plongeant dans une cascade, un épisode vécu par le lé..."

  25. Journey to the West

    Journey to the West (西遊記) is a Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. It is one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature. The novel is an extended account of the legendary pilgrimage of the Tang dynasty Buddhist monk Xuanzang along the ancient Silk Road from China to India and back. Xuanzang traveled to the ...